Mariel Strylaz stood patiently outside two large silver doors. She awaited the moment they would open, for her sister was behind them, doing who knows what in her test. Mariel was a respectable third year who stood above ordinary, but nowhere near prodigious, except in her skill set. However, her sister Vera was cause for concern, with her mischievous experiments and lack of taking the time to hone any of her skills. The thought of her being put in a rank below her potential was haunting at the least, it would do anything but improve her attitude.
She was surprised the room hadn't burst into a fit of uncontrollable flames by now, which was good. She watched the huddles of people traverse the large lobby room; most of them were chatty teenagers, with the exception of a few parents and teachers that scoured the crowds for punishable misbehaviour. The lobby room itself was substantial in surface area and height, but didn't come close to comparing with the main chamber in size, or beauty. The building —or in proper terms, Cobalt— was primarily composed of solar stones, and these beautiful gems, along with pleasing any gazer's eye, helped with capturing the energy powering this architecture, and acted as a perfect compliment to the skylights decorating the ceiling.
The doors whipped open and a girl bounded out, followed by a wispy trail of smoke that carried the fetid stench of burning hair. Mariel grabbed Vera and brushed her fingers along the tips of her sister's smouldering locks. The streams of smoke vanished and left it looking as healthy as it had been when she walked in. "How'd it go? Did you pass?"
Vera looked at the floor and brushed her crimson hair behind her ears. "Well... Yeah I suppose." She pulled a blue piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to her sister. "They used molves, but I managed to blast them in the face a couple times before they got me. So I got a C."
Mariel pulled in her sister and gave her a cheerful hug. "You passed! That's all I care about." Vera was too hard on herself, any first year would be lucky to get a D on their entrance exam, especially if they were put up against a pack of molves.
Mariel grabbed her sister by the hand and maneuvered through the hustled crowds until they popped out of the lobby and into a vacant hallway. The feeling of being in a large, unpredictable crowd didn't suit her fancy at the current time; a pressing weight had been lifted off her shoulders, now that she knew her sister passed the entrance exam.
"Heeey Strylaz, how'd your betting piece do?" a husky male voice called out from behind her.
Mariel turned to face the voice's origin with an unamused frown. "I would prefer it if you didn't refer to my sister as a betting piece." She folded up the blue paper and slid it into her pocket. "She passed."
The boy leaned against the wall, scoffing at Mariel's hostile tone. "Well mine wasn't too shabby, she would've aced it if one of those molves hadn't jumped her from behind."
Mariel looked past the boy, scanning the huddle of people in the lobby. "By the way Draven, where's Ray? I haven't seem him since this morning."
Draven traced his thoughts back to the early morning when he'd last seen Ray. He recalled him being in a mad scramble to find his betting piece, until his 'detector' went off and he was more inclined than usual to retrieve his person, but didn't specify where he was off to. However, Draven could have sworn he detected a hint of triumph when Ray tauntingly wished him luck on the bet they had made. "He told me he was getting his betting piece." Draven looked at his timepiece and sighed. "He'd better hurry though, testing time'll be over soon."
A thin metal bracelet around Mariel's wrist suddenly erupted into a fit of soft vibrations, she looked at the bracelet and pushed a small button protruding from its side. A ball of white energy lifted from the trinket and rose to the height of her head. "You have impeccable timing Ray, and you're late, as usual."
"Good afternoon to you as well." Ray's voice echoed through the ball. "Any helpful test hints?"
"They've got molves today. Better hope your buddy has got some skills, because they're pretty vicious."
There was a pause of inaudible chatter on Ray's end, until he finally came within speaking distance again. "I'm almost there, and my betting piece'll destroy those puny molves!"
Another voice broke into the line that seemed more distant than Ray's, but its frustrated confusion was anything but subtle. "Betting piece?! That's why you kidnapped me?!"
The voice became a series of muffled grunts as Ray's voice was heard yet again. "Be there in two minutes. Ta ta for now!" The orb vanished from existence and Ray's voice cut out, leaving Mariel, Draven, and Vera in concerned silence.
Ragdoll was the first to appear before the trio, she flicked her long feathery tail and dipped her elegant patched head to the side. They took Ragdoll's signal to follow and weaved through the crowd yet again, until they found themselves in front of Ray, and a slightly shorter boy who seemed to be in an equal state of bewilderment and agitation.
Vera was disappointed at Ray's find. He looked dull, even for Ray's standards. The kid was well built, but still flimsy compared to most of the boys, and he seemed to mentally lack a grasp on his situation. Not to mention his droopy and tired stature was like a beaten basilisk, and what was with the garb he was flashing? She continued to process his every fault in her mind until she noticed his murky greyish blue eyes looking tiredly at her, and she quickly averted her gaze. Whoever this kid was he seriously didn't look the type for this school.
—————
Káel stood silently in the presence of what appeared to be friends of Ray, contemplating possible opportunities to escape the place, or at least Ray.
He couldn't however... After uncovering Ray's true intentions, and realising how stupidly calm he was about being on another planet, Káel had attempted one of his escape plans, but no sooner than a few seconds into initiating it, Káel found he was frozen; in a sense that the only things he could move were his eyes. What's worse was Ray gained control of his motions, and marched him right into the building with ease. Káel couldn't call for help nor flee as he followed Ray through crowds of young teenagers, most of them appearing happy and full of conversation that they distributed with their company, but he couldn't bring himself to understand the source of their enthusiasm.
Ray had walked him across a large hall made of crystalline walls, lined with multiple pictures of strange armour-clad people. Some rode fearsome beasts, while others posed in heroic manners. Each picture was framed in beaming silver and bore what was most likely their identity on thin plaques beneath them, but the small curvaceous writing had been too far away for Káel to make out.
Parts of the roof and upper walls consisted of the same crystals making up most of the buildings outer structure, the ones that caught the stars' beams and danced with subtle rainbows as they illuminated the entire hall. Mighty stone pillars with cryptic runes carved into them held up the roof, without showing a fault to the tremendous burden they kept. Káel looked at his feet, the floor was plastered with a soft, crimson red carpet, lightly edged with silver embroidery, and where the carpet didn't reach a shiny stone floor peeked out.
Eventually it came to the point where Ray's assumed friends came along, and Káel noticed a girl around his age who couldn't seem to stop checking him out, until she locked eyes with him for a split second and quickly averted her gaze. Not that he was complaining, her scrunched nose and resting glare just screamed the gossiping scatterbrains at his school. His school. His home. Káel went a little paler as he thought about his uncle coming back to an empty house.
The freakishly tall boy was the first to strike conversation."Where'd ya find the noodle Ray?"
Káel immediately redirected his irritation from Ray to the boy; he was being called a noodle by someone he'd just met.
"He's stronger than he looks, trust me," Ray replied, smacking Káel's back. "I didn't go all the way to Earth for nothing."
The boy scoffed. "Yeah right. There's no way you found a way to Earth and found one of them. I mean look at him." He poked Káel's face. "It would take a true idiot to believe this noodle's from there. Let alone from the war."
Káel wanted to punch this kid in the face, just once, to see if he'd still call him a noodle afterwards. But whatever Ray had done to him was still working, so the best he could do was a stare down with his provocateur.
Ray chuckled at Draven's comment and forced Káel to approach a set of silver doors. "We'll see about that."
It was a strange feeling, moving without the consent of your brain. Káel's arm lifted towards the silver doors, overpowering any futile resistance he could muster. He felt his palm pushing against its cold metal surface, and the bulk slowly moving inwards. The door was opening and Káel was helpless in terms of stopping it. It slid open smoothly and he walked in with the rigid stature of a robot. His head turned forcefully to give him one last look at Ray's stupid face.
"Oh and one last thing." Ray whispered, pulling out a tiny book from his pocket and tossing it into the room with him. "Hope it's helpful."
The door covered its last bit of distance and clicked closed, sealing Káel off from further communications. The aura that imprisoned his movements melted away, and he stretched his back, sighing with the relaxation of being able to control his movements once more. However, despite his riddance of an irksome obstacle, his problematic situation appeared to have yet again grown to an outstanding new level.
Jeremiah nuzzled the small book sitting near Káel's feet. He looked down and glared at his untrustworthy companion then snatched the book from the ground, scanning the indecipherable runes running across its cover; but the text quickly morphed into his recognizable alphabet. The words that ran across it's cover now displayed proper English, 'Lumience For Idiots'. He growled at its bluntness and shoved it in his pocket.
"What is your full name?" A voice announced, it was female, but it's stern tone reverberated off the walls, giving it an inhuman chill.
Besides Káel and Jeremiah, the small room was bare of any visible life forms. So he turned to his uncle's advice, which he'd foolishly ignored earlier when he introduced himself to Ray. Don't give a stranger something they can use against you. "Jackson Smith." He replied as his eyes wandered around the solid grey room, scouting for cameras or speakers.
Although the box of a room didn't display a lively scene, it did hold a variety of weapon like tools, most of which stumped Káel with their proper purpose.
The girl sighed with displeasure. "Don't lie to me, I can see your heartbeat. Now provide me with your real name please."
"Damn." Káel muttered looking at a blank part of the wall where the voice was originating from. "Káel Williams?"
"Good. Now please select your choice of weaponry."
Káel gave the table full of weapons a hesitant smile. "Question. What is this place, and any chances of leaving it?"
"If you're referring to this room, it's an interchangeable battle space, but if you're referring to this place, it's currently the entrance examination area; and for your sake I hope you know what that means. The only way to leave is to try the test, all other routes are currently blocked to minimize cheating."
"Great."
A simple, decently lengthed sword, sat sheathed in thick leather on one of the racks, Káel snatched it and popped it open to check its quality. The blade was sharp and surprisingly light, but the weapon had no shine to its grey surface; it was a blade of stealth. This disturbed him even further as to what lay beyond the room he stood in. He fastened the sword onto his back and grabbed three daggers that he slid into his belt.
He would have prefered a few ranged weapons, but anything resembling a gun lacked a visible trigger. A small, tied-up blue satchel attracted his curiosity, and he unwound its golden tie to peer at its contents, it was filled with tiny black marbles. He pulled one out and rolled it in his palm. It was warm, and heavy for its diminutive size. The sack had a name embroidered on its side, Smoke Balls. He imagined the short list of possibilities that name could mean, and stuffed the tiny sack in his pocket.
"20 seconds." The voice called. "You better hurry uuuuup."
Káel quickly scanned the rest of the weapons and picked up a short metal cylinder, holding it up to the roof. "What's this? A taser?"
"It's a flashlight genius." The voice teased. "And it's controlled by lumience... Just don't overload it."
He jammed it as far as it could go into one of his pockets. "Am I going somewhere dark?"
The voice paused for a moment, then gave a soft hum. "I don't know, are you? Time's up."
The room cracked away, dissolving into a sea of pure white that Káel and Jeremiah stood as the only specks of color in. In the blink of an eye the whiteness was replaced with a new set of scenery.
A maze of twisted grey walls surrounded Káel in a perfect circle, at the center of which sat a wooden sign. He cautiously approached it, hungry for clues regarding his purpose in the strange setting.
Welcome to the Cobalt Entrance Exam
(The information below may help you)
SETTING: Small Maze
ENEMIES: Molves x6 (One pack)
TIME LIMIT: 20 standard minutes
GOAL: Eliminate as many enemies as possible before the time runs out or you are eliminated.
"Eliminated..." Káel muttered, rereading the last sentence to make sure he'd read it right. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" He swallowed the lump of panic forming in his throat, hoping his skills in playfully fighting with tree branches could commute to a legitimate broadsword. "What the hell's a Molve?"
Káel was suddenly drawn away by Jeremiah's abrupt fit of warning hisses and growls; he couldn't control his wavering breaths, knowing what he was about to find himself facing.
A giant beast —if it could be called that— sauntered out from behind one of the walls. It moved on all fours, nearly reaching the height of Káel's head with its orange eyes locked onto him with predatorial determination. The beast sat only a few meters from Káel, bearing a striking resemblance to a wolf, but more robust and ruggedly vicious as it prowled in front of him, keeping its distance and assessing him with intelligent eyes. Káel noticed the lack of movement in the creature's pelt, realizing it wasn't fur plating the beast, it was jagged rocks, grinding with every movement the beast made. Its chest was a gaping ravine jutted with spiked stones, and a bright orange light, like the ones emanating from its eyes, swirled within the cavern.
The entrancing ball of fiery energy looked weak, yet strong at the same time, hiding behind the thick stone covering the creature's torso, yet existing as the only moving thing within its hollow shell.
To his utter misfortune, this thing was a molve.
He paced his breathing in an attempt to calm his leaping heart, and slowly drew one of the daggers. The molve produced a deep growl, prowling towards him. Its mouth hung open, displaying its set of sharp fangs, as it kneaded the ground impatiently with thick, talon-like claws.
Without warning, the molve leaped into a swift sprint, forcing Káel to dive out of its trampling path. It came to a skidding stop when it missed its mark, causing a spray of sparks to shoot from its keen claws as they grinded against the cobbled ground. It quickly recovered, and unabatingly chased after Káel as he bolted behind the nearest wall.
Káel ran aimlessly through the paths peppering the maze, the molve lagged behind, barely keeping up despite its superior speed. Every time Káel cut a corner the beast would slam into the wall or skid into another path to change its direction. It was fast in open spaces, but cutting corners in confined halls proved to handicap its abilities in pursuing its prey.
However, the advantage Káel acquired was short lived when he threw himself around a sharp corner only to collide with a large rocky mass... quite like the one he was trying to escape. The impact threw Káel into the wall, slamming down on his tender goosebump that received only a couple hours to swell down prior to its second assault. The familiar pain pounded like a drum at the back of Káel's head, drawing out a small whimper from his throat. He looked up at the second stone wolf.
Six.
He had to eliminate six of them in twenty minutes.
Unless he wanted to be eliminated himself.
Don't forget to:
COMMENT/CRITIQUE/(VOTE IF YOU WANT)
Next update:
3/28/2018